News Feed

1. As tensions simmer between U.S. and Iran, Iraq is feeling the heat

   

   Of the many proxy battlegrounds between Iran and the U.S., Iraq is one of the most overlooked, at least outside the Middle East. But U.S. reaction to the reappearance on the political scene of former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki — a candidate for the job once more — is a sharp reminder of the tightrope Iraq walks between the two.

2. Air Transat aims to repatriate all its customers in Cuba within days

   

   Air Transat says it plans to bring home thousands of Canadians from Cuba in the coming days, at a time when Ottawa is telling people to avoid delaying their exit from the island country.

3. Republicans, Democrats want to hear from government about anti-drone laser that closed El Paso airport

   

   The brief shutdown of El Paso airport by the Federal Aviation Administration because of safety ‌concerns posed by the use of a military laser-based anti-drone system was unacceptable, the top Democrat on the Senate's commerce committee said on Thursday.

4. Canadian mining company employees worked amid gunfire, Mexican cartel checkpoints, says family member

   

   Vizsla Silver Corp.'s workers laboured in an environment punctured by gunfire, cartel checkpoints and drones, says the brother of a geologist with the Canadian mining company in Mexico, who was among five people found dead after they were kidnapped by a suspected faction of the Sinaloa cartel.

5. Bondi attacks Dems during Epstein testimony

   

   U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi attacked Democrats during her fiery House Judiciary Committee testimony as she faced criticism from lawmakers over the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files.